Sunday, June 04, 2017

“Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what
happens to you.”

-- Aldous Huxley

Everyone has to start somewhere, and for Jakub Vrana his start in the
NHL came on the first night of December 2016. He stepped onto the ice 58
seconds into the contest and recorded a shot on his first shift. It did not go
in.

Rats! So much for fairy tale beginnings.

What Vrana did get was more mundane, a couple of cups o’ coffee with
the big club. There was the 12-game stint from December 1st through December
27th, and then there was his call-up in late February for 17 days in which he
appeared in another nine games.

The first thing that jumps out looking at those 21 games as a whole is
that competition mattered. Vrana was 3-3-6 in the 21 games in which he
appeared, recording points in five of those games. However, four of those games
(and all three win which he recorded a goal) were against clubs that did not
reach the postseason (New Jersey, Los Angeles, Buffalo, and the New York
Islanders). He did have an assist on the Caps’ only goal in a 2-1 overtime loss
to Nashville on March 16th, his last game with the club this season.

There was also the matter of shyness, or rather the lack of it
(although this comes with a caveat that we will get to). He had four shots on
goal in two of his first three games, three of his first six. He had four or
more shots on goal in five games overall. He had more shots on goal per game
(1.52) than Lars Eller (1.42), Brett Connolly (1.23), and Tom Wilson (1.16),
among other Capitals. This is to be expected; Vrana was drafted as an offensive
player. It would not be a stretch to think of him as a reincarnation of Peter
Bondra.

But about that caveat. He, like many players of his age and experience,
could not sustain that pace of early activity. In his first stint with the
club, Vrana had 14 shots on goal in his first six games, seven shots on goal in
his last six. In his second tour with the big club, he had ten shots on goal in
his first four games, but then he slipped to one shot on goal over his last
four games. As if to put an exclamation point on this, his last shot on goal –
in Game 18 of his 21-game season – was a goal, a power play goal to open the
scoring in a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on March 11th (his only shot on
goal of the game).

Fearless’ Take… Only 13 players in Caps history appeared in fewer than
40 games of their very first season in the NHL and scored more goals than
Vrana, and only one did it in fewer games than the 21 in which Vrana played
(Jaroslav Svejkovsky had seven goals in 19 games in 1996-1997).

Cheerless’ Take… Vrana skated more than 50 5-on-5 minutes with three
forwards: Lars Eller, Andre Burakovsky, and Brett Connolly. Only Burakovsky had
a worse Corsi-for percentage when apart (55.2 versus 56.1; numbers from
stats.hockeyanalysis.com). He had five games in which he registered four or
more shots on goal, eight in which he did not record a show. Guess consistency
is on the to-do list.

Odd Vrana Fact… Jakub Vrana is only the tenth forward since 2005-2006
to appear in at least 20 games for the Caps in his first ever season. Only five
of them – Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mathieu Perreault, Andre
Burakovsky, and Marcus Johansson – averaged more goals and assists per game in
doing so than Vrana. Yeah, we had to dig for that one.

Game to remember… December 9th vs. Buffalo

It would be cliché to say that a player’s first NHL game was the “game
to remember,” but when you’re a goal scorer, perhaps it’s that first goal that
lasts longer.Going into the game
against the Buffalo Sabres on December 9th, Jakub Vrana had dressed
for four games.He recorded nine shots
in his first three contests, but he was held without a shot on goal in almost
13 minutes against the Boston Bruins in the game before the contest against the
Sabres.After the Caps took a 1-0 lead
on a T.J. Oshie goal early in the second period, the Caps had a power play when
Dmitry Kulikov was sent off on a hooking call.With the power play winding down, Vrana did what veteran goal scorers
do.He let others carry the puck while
he headed for the net.In this instance
it was Evgeny Kuznetsov hauling the puck down the right wing wall.Ducking under Jake McCabe, Kuznetsov curled
around the right wing corner and laid the puck out in front.Vrana was right there to redirect the puck past
goalie Robin Lehner for his first NHL goal, what would be the game-winning goal
in the Caps’ 4-1 win.

Game to forget… March 12th vs. Anaheim

It was the third of a three-game road trip to California, and the first
two did not go well for the Caps in general or for Vrana in particular.In Vrana’s case, he was held without a shot
on goal in the first game of the trip, a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks.Against the Los Angeles Kings in the second
game of the road trip, He did get a goal on his only shot on goal of the
contest, the game’s first goal in fact.But the Caps could not hold the lead and dropped another 4-2
decision.The following night in Anaheim
against the Ducks, he and the Caps started slow, then faded.Anaheim scored three goals four minutes apart
in the second period to take a 3-0 lead on their way to a 5-2 win.Vrana skated four shifts in the first period,
three in the second, and only two in the third, those two coming in the last two
minutes of the contest, what one might call “garbage time.”He recorded no shots on goal in 7:40 of ice
time and did not have a mark anywhere else on his line of the score sheet, save
for a minus-1.Five days later he was
reassigned to the Hershey Bears, where he finished his season.

Postseason: did not play

In the end…

Check it off the list.Drafted
13th overall in 2014, played in Europe in 2014-2015, a short stint
in Hershey to wrap up the 2004-2015 season, a season in Hershey in 2015-2016,
and a couple of cups o’ coffee with the big club in 2016-2017 between stretches
in Hershey.One would expect he would
challenge for a roster spot this September when the club convenes for the
2017-2018 season.But his last stretch
in Hershey was not as smooth or productive as one might have hoped.Upon his final return, he was 5-5-10, plus-5,
in 13 games, which isn’t bad.But the
playoffs were another matter.In seven
games, Vrana was held without a point on just three shots on goal and was a minus-2.It adds a bit of drama to what remains of
Vrana’s path to the NHL.It will be
interesting to see what he does with this bit of experience.

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

The Washington Capitals ended the 2016-2017 as one of 12 franchises in the NHL never to win a Stanley Cup. Of that group, only the St. Louis Blues (48 seasons), Buffalo Sabres (45 seasons), and Vancouver Canucks (45 seasons) have gone longer never having won a Cup than the Capitals (41 seasons). Six teams came into the league after the Capitals entered the league in 1974-1975 and have won Stanley Cups: Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils (1976-1977), Edmonton Oilers (1979-1980), Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche (1979-1980), Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes (1979-1980), Tampa Bay Lightning (1992-1993), and the Anaheim Ducks (1993-1994).

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